Ember was fuming. It had been nearly a year since Danny Phantom had sent her back to the ghost zone and she still hadn't gotten out yet. She wasn't going to work for that Masters guy again. He was more trouble than he was worth. She dangled her legs off one of the floating rocks that was the ghost zone in a nutshell. Not too far off a girl was talking to another girl but the giggling that usually permeated these conversations was nonexistent and that made Ember curious. She stood up and walked over to an over turned table that the girls were hovering over. She grabbed the closest by the color and pulled her down to face level. It was Johnny 13's girlfriend Kitty.
"What the heck are you two talking about?" Kitty pulled herself free and brushed the wrinkles out of her shirt before answering.
"A new girl claims that Danny Phantom is near a ghost portal. It is drawing its energy from him, one of Skulker's traps. He should be defenseless. People can escape through it but it is really small." Kitty shrugged. To her it was just good gossip but to Ember it was sweet music. She walked away just as abruptly as she had walked up. She had to find this portal and get her revenge. She turned to go and came face to face with the boy she had just been thinking about but he looked transparent and more…ghostlike that usual. No emotion showed on his face.
"Danny Phantom?" No menacing words or monologues could come to mind. She just stared. He looked at her looking quite uninterested. Was the half finally dead? She knew that powers like his had the ability to consume but could they take over his human side? Or did someone finally off him? His gaze pierced through her as if he didn't even want to see her. That made her angry. She grabbed her guitar and pulled it up to play a note. She pulled her hand down to hit the strings but it hit air instead. Ember looked up to see DP holding her guitar. He looked at it, a deep sadness hiding behind his wide empty eyes. He strummed on it playing a nice but simple tune. Then he looked up and finally spoke.
"I am sorry." That caught her by surprise.
"What?"
"I should have come back to you once I put you here. I should have listened. I should have made sure you were okay. It must be torture to have to spent eternity in such agony." She stopped with her mouth hanging open.
"Your lyrics gave you away and while I was talking to a woman a little bit ago I realized what they said. You didn't want power….you just wanted to be love. The years of death are enough to distort any good mind." He stopped and looked at her before fading away. "Or any beautiful soul." In the first time in years Ember cried.
Watch Tower
"Raven." BB said it in a pained voice stained with anger and discouragement
"How is he?" Cyborg kept him from answering.
"What would you care? He isn't our problem anymore remember?" She hung her head but BB shoved Cyborg away.
"He is just worried. Danny stopped breathing on us for a moment there."
"What is wrong?"
"We don't really know. It couldn't be poison cause Danny would burn it off. That is why I asked them to bring you. I don't know what happened between you two but you can't let him die." She looked up at BB and stared into his eyes. He didn't look away.
"He saw inside me. He kept my darkest side at bay and felt its full power and still he could look at me. I didn't know what to do. I felt ashamed. I wanted the power that the merge gave me. I almost didn't let him go."
"He knows the worst in you because in someway it is in him Raven. He understands." He looked at her with sorry and sympathy in his eyes. BB knew what it was like to hold a beast inside you.
"I need to see him. Then I need to search anyone who has been in contact with him since he got injured."
"I will get the right people together. He is in there." BB left with Cyborg and Raven walked gently into the next room.
He looked so tame and safe but Raven had seen the icy coldness inside him just as he had seen the dark rage and madness inside her. The dark hair the fell over his face gave him a deceptive innocence. For a moment she circled around like she was approaching a sleeping viper. It reminded her of the first time that he had transformed. It had been in a fight with Control Freak. He had only been watching the fight. Watching them all get trashed, then once they were all down he walked straight up to the man and placed his hand on the remote. Control Freak had been laughing when he had walked up but when he transform and his eyes started to pulse green the criminal had started to scream. Raven herself had given him a disbelieving look. He had looked at her and said
" Now you see why people hate and fear me. You will always be a hero to them. I will always be a horror. Just a lone ghost and more often than not I will be blamed for the damage caused while you are praise for stopping more damage." She hadn't said anything then and she couldn't find everything to say now. She was trembling. She just couldn't make it to the bed were the one person who could have understood her was lying. The one person that she had pushed away. Strength left her and a sob formed in the back of her throat. She closed her eyes and went to brush the tears away. Another hand beat her too it. She looked up and saw Danny. She wanted to scream and curse and cry all at the same time. She wanted to be angry but she just couldn't. He knelt down and brushed the rest of tears away. On his face she saw no expression. Then he pulled her into his arms and he held her as she cried her bitter tears.